Monday, June 22, 2015

I hit the list maker, stationary lover, and gifting giving gal jackpot at Michael's. I was so in love with all the cuteness that I scored for great prices that I decided to share it with you via a haul!

Annnnd because I love ya so I also did a little shopping for you as well! At the end of the haul I’ll show you what I’m giving away. Read below to see how to enter.

Just in case you’re wondering this was a recent purchase so if you see anything you just can’t live without your local Michael’s should still carry these items. Nope I’m not sponsored but them but it’s worth a shot huh? HEY Michael's are you listening, hook a girl up! At he very least you could toss a W. notebook my way!

How to Enter………..

-To enter the giveaway you MUST live within the US!-Leave a comment here OR under the corresponding Instagram post. -For an additional entry tag a buddy on Instagram you think would enjoy our account (under the corresponding post). You must be an Instagram buddy for the additional entry to count.

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

It happened with Weston and oh boy did it happen with Carson. I woke up and all the sudden this sinker our new little love was a month old. May went by in a blink!

Which is why it will be so perfectly be remembered as the fastest month of my life.

You often hear parents say…….. “How are they already ________ old!” “Time sure does fly!” “Stop growing!” ”The days are long but the years are short.”

All sappy but all so very true.

I’ve been thinking back on the last month……. How is it possible that it flew by faster than our 1st month with Weston. 31 days, 744 hours that I can’t quite remember. Were we in some sort of time warp?

After doing a little soul searching I believe I’ve cracked the case. Why mamas bring their fresh new babies home and wake up the next day with a 1 month old, 6 month old……and so on.

It can be summed up by 1 word………..

SURVIVAL!!!

I can only speak for myself but the 1st month shoot the 1st few months with a newborn are rough. Both of my boys had tummy issues which makes for very unhappy babies. We’re still working through Carson’s unhappy tummy phase, throw a toddler into the mix and oh boy it’s an interesting ride!

Weston “Big Brother Extraordinaire” has been great, the baby has been great……ish but with 2 it doesn’t matter how well behaved they are it’s an awful lot on your plate!

I don’t usually handle the newborn stage with tons of grace. Perhaps I’m the only one?

I’m not on top of things. I have to apologize to people often “So sorry it’s taken me so long to do ______.” A few angry UGGHHHGs slip out of my mouth late into the night after being woken up hour after hour by our adorably cute newborn. Whom I’m absolutely nuts about (just in case you’re wondering)! Little things that normally wouldn't bother me set me off and by set me off I mean random outburst of tears. I walk around most of the day with my boobs out. Sometimes I forget to brush my teeth. Showers? Eh, I’m happy when I wet a towel and wipe my pits. After hour 8 of trying to console an unhappy baby I have a hard time finding gratitude in the moment something I usually rock at.

See what I’m saying? Not a lot of grace in those moments.

I’m not one of those mamas that looks top notch daily with freshly shaven legs and a beautifully styled outfit (you know those moms we see on Instagram). Oh gosh they’re pretty and it sure would be nice to be that awesome. I really wish I was but NOOOOOOPE I’m not one of them and lets face it they’re most likely not one of “Them” either.

They’re just not being honest with themselves. Shhh don’t tell anyone I just said that. I don’t think they want us to know.

This is my honest…….

Boobs out (you just can’t see them due to the baby), 5 day dirty hair, Pjs actually I don’t even know what I’m wearing but I can promise you it’s covered in spit up and maybe a little pee, no makeup, annnnnnnd I stink! I’ll probably skip the shower and wipe my pits with a wash cloth before bed or I mean my hour of sleep before I’m awoken by our little precious. Oh and not shown in this photo is the wreck of a bed room that surrounds me. Bottles, diapers, wipes, dirty clothes, random socks decorate our room like it’s our style we’re going for.

This is also my honest…….

The mess continues in the kitchen the laundry room and pretty much every room of our house. Usually Weston has cars and random books sprinkled all over the floor.

It actually looks like we picked up a little in this photo.

Mess is my honest……..

But again since we’re being honest here let me tell you that our cleaning lady (best investment ever) is coming today and our house will be spotless for a good hour before it looks like this again.

The newborn stage is a thick season. It’s thick with tiredness Thick with hard days that roll into hard weeks. It’s thick with laundry and to do list that never get done. Thick with doubt questing your worth as a mama, wife, friend.

But while it’s heavy with rough days it’s also dripping in love and precious moments that you want to remember forever……

The feeling of your newborn’s breath on your chest as they sleep. The way their skin feels like butter. How you can fit both of their tiny feet in one of your hands. The moments of stillness just you and them while you rock them to sleep. How they mold so perfectly to your arms and the crook of your neck as if your body was made just for them. The days when all they want is to sleep on their mama’s chest. The sweet grunts and coos. The tiny socks and clothes you can’t believe they fit. The sleepy smiles. The way they smell. How sometimes the only thing that can comfort them is to be held by you, their mama.

It’s not the sleepless nights, fussy days, and messy house you’ll remember. It’s these very moments. The ones that bring tears to your eyes when you think about them. The ones that seem to slip out of your hands before you realize. The ones you forget to enjoy while you’re in “Survival Mode”.

Yep, survival mode is why that 1st month zips by. It took me a having a second baby to figure it out but I’m pretty sure I’ve cracked the case.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Hello there! My name is Nicole Mantooth. I live in southern California with my husband Jacob and our 3 kiddo. Little Jacob is 10, Caleb is 8 in a month and Chloe is 5. My husband is very supportive of all my crafty projects even when they take over the entire house, and have moved into the garage. I love to scrapbook, the Project Life way, I make and sell wood signs and I love spending time with my family. I love a day of snuggling on the couch, watching movies and snacking on popcorn and diet pepsi. If it was raining outside (which we rarely get here in So. Cal) that would be awesome too.

Today, I wanted to share with you a little about Project Life and how to get started.

What is Project Life you ask?

Project Life is a solution-based approach to scrapbooking that was created to simplify the process in order to allow you more time to enjoy life! It requires no glue, no scissors, no tools, and no skills of any kind. The design of our products takes the guess work out of layout design so that you can focus on recording your everyday moments through your photos and journaling. The simple design is stylish and makes it possible for you to complete more pages in less time. Find out more at www.beckyhiggins.com

You can do Project Life anyway you choose. You can start with the most basic or you can embellish your layouts the same way you would a traditional layout. There is NO wrong way, it is your memories that you are documenting.

To get started though all you need are a few basic things.

1. A Project Life Core Kit. These kits you can pick up on Becky Higgins website, or you can find them at your local craft store and many online retailers sell them as well. A core kit has all the cards you will need to complete an album for an entire year. They tell you which cards to place where for your opening page, and the final page as well.

2. Pocket Pages. There are so many varieties to choose from so you can find pages to fit any photos you have.

3. A pen for journaling

4. Photos of course.

There are many ways you can approach your documenting for Project Life. Some people do a weekly spread, others do a monthly spread and sometimes even a daily spread. It is totally up to you. Remember it is your memories so you can document as much or as little as you want. If one day is extra special you can make an entire layout focus on one day, not just the week. I personally do my layouts in a weekly format. Some weeks I have so many photos I cram all my journaling into the cards, and some weeks I don’t have many photos so I add a few extra filler decorative cards. Whatever works!

Now back a few years ago when I first started my road down the Project Life way of Scrapbooking I thought all my photos had to be taken with my big DSLR camera and I was so bummed if I missed a photo op that day or didn’t bring along my camera to an event. So then I got frustrated because I felt like it wasn’t a true “photo a day” documentation. Fast forward several years to now. I love my DSLR but frankly many days I do not want to haul it around with all 3 of the kids to whatever event or day to day task we are doing that day. Enter the LOVE I have for my iphone. I am still using an iphone4, but hey it gets the job done. The pictures are not nearly as wonderful as my DSLR takes, but sometimes it is so much more than just great pictures, but great memories and being able to be in the moment and not worry about the big camera. I take 85% if not more of my photos with my iphone. For the quality they are just fine blown up to a 4x6 photo to slip into the albums.

Now moving forward with the capturing moments through my iphone brings me to another part of Project Life I want to talk about. The all new Project Life App. At the moment it is only available for the apple devices, but I know they are working super hard to make it available for android devices really soon as well. The app is AMAZING and saves even more time when creating a layout. I even made a recipe layout of what we were having that night, while the dinner was still cooking. I mean it took all of minutes to finish the entire layout. Now it is saved in my app and waiting for me to get it printed and into an album.

The Project Life app has completely changed my way of using Project Life. I was so excited as to how quick it was I even created this fun page to add to our family album about all our current favorite tv shows we watch. I looked up the tv shows on my phone, snapped a screen shot, and plugged them right into the template on my app and done.

I volunteered in my sons class for and Easter party that they had, I snapped a few photos and when I got home that day I created the layout, even before he got home from school that day. I am telling you it is that quick and easy.

I used to be completely anti digital. I wanted nothing to do with scrapbooking on the computer, I like the hands on part of it. But now, I am all about it. With three kids, my husband who works many many hours and I run my etsy store and my photography, there isn’t as much time anymore to sit and actually get my hands dirty so instead of missing out on documenting all the life events, and even the day to day I can whip it up in minutes. Just think you had such an eventful day, and you can get the kids into bed and lay in bed yourself and complete 1,2 or 5 layouts from that days events. Or Sunday evening you can create a layout for the past week before the new week begins.

This year I am still going to continue to document our family memories with the physical Project Life because that is how I started, but I am considering doing our family album all digital next year.

Another thing I wanted to talk about in the area of documenting with Project Life is that you can document so many things, it doesn’t just have to be big events, or holidays or even the day to day. Another way I am using Project Life in physical form is to create School Albums for my kids. Since they get actual papers from school and school pictures, I want to keep this album non digital. Each year I have them write their names on a Project Life card so that we can see how their writing changes each year. I have page protectors of all shapes and sizes that I have added art work, report cards, and school work in.

The last thing on this subject I want to talk about is a recipe album. I have wanted to make a recipe album for so long. But I want one for myself, and one for each of my kids to take with them when they leave home (they have many many years to go, but still ). So the thought of buying all the products for 4 albums was a bit overwhelming. So now that the Project Life app is so easy, I have started a recipe album for our favorite family recipes. The best part, is I only have to make the layout once, and I can just print it as many times as I would like! How easy is that!.

I have some big plans to start a Heritage album about my grandma’s life as well. That is in the works, and I plan to do that in a digital format too so that I can print out as many pages and make several albums for my family members.

So whatever way you choose to document your memories, remember that Project Life is designed to make it simple and easy for us so that we can enjoy the moments we are living not spending all our time scrapbooking them.

I hope this at least gives you a little help getting started with documenting your memories.

You can find me over on my blog Random Ramblings at www.nicolemantooth.blogspot.com. I often ramble about many things, and if you would like to keep up with all my Project Life pages stop on over and say hello.

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Hi! So first I would like to introduce myself a little bit. My name is Brittany and I am a stay at home momma to two amazing little ones. My son, MJ is just over 20 months. And my daughter, Harper is a little over 3 weeks old. I was born and raised in south florida, but my husband is in the army and he is currently stationed at Ft.bliss, so we are currently living in El Paso, Texas.

Well I wanted to share a little about a day in my life :)

My husband has to be up to get to PT (the morning work out) around 5:30 so I normally am awake around then and my daughter has decided 5 is a pretty good time to get up to eat. My son gets up around 7 so that is when my day really starts.

I get up and get my little man breakfast and then feed my daughter again. She definitely knows how to eat ! She also is so little and doesn't like to really be put down for a long time. So it becomes a juggling act giving out attention throughout the day.

Well between 7:40&8, my husband gets home to get cleaned up and ready to be to work by 9. He normally plays with MJ a bit and loves on Harper and then scrambles to get ready to go.

Mj follows daddy to the door and watches as he leaves. He has definitely become a daddy's boy since the arrival of his sister. Such a bittersweet thing for this momma. So after daddy leaves we play and have a snack and by 10-10:30 MJ is normally ready for his nap of the day. He will normally sleep for about 2 hours so this gives me time to do either one or two things. One being cuddle up with my baby girl and take a nap if she allows this. Or attempt to be productive and clean up the disaster the house has normally become since my son is like a moving tornado lately. If it's a good day at work my husband has the luxury to come home for lunch around 11:30/12 until right before 1. We live in military housing but off post, although thankfully we are literally five minutes or less from post.

MJ normally gets up right before my husband goes back to work so he gets a little more playtime with daddy. And MJ will steal my husband's patrol cap and car keys and pretend to leave like daddy. Saying buh-bye and see ya ! MJ loves barney right now so while i make him lunch after his nap This normally goes on. After lunch I do my best to let him do a craft even if it's as simple as coloring with markers(one of his favorites) or painting. Harper will normally give me one good nap in either her bouncer or swing and so mommy and MJ cuddle up and read books or play with his dinosaurs. One of his new favorites. Harper eats every two to three hours and has increased her feedings to about 3&1/2-4oz at every bottle. So i feel like i am always feeding her. :P

My husband gets home around 4:30-5 most days. Unless it's extremely busy then he can get called back and kept until like 7:30 or later. But as soon as MJ sees him he screams dada and the games are on. Mj yells im gona get you and runs through his daddy's legs and is off to wait for his dad to chase him . It honestly is one of the most adorable things i have ever seen. I then get dinner ready. Miss harper will either take over daddy's arms or on a good day she will sit in her bouncer. After we've eaten, my husband will take MJ to do bath time and its time to get ready for bed around 7. After bath he brushes his teeth and then runs to give his sis sis (what he calls harper) and I a kiss and hug and then yells night night, see ya, as he goes to his room. Then its time for us to relax. Either my husband or I will get the bottles ready and set up the bedroom for nighttime. Make sure there are enough diapers and wipes. That sort of thing. Then Netflix goes on And games on the computer. Its a struggle to keep me awake past 9 most nights. As long as Harper allows it of course.

I have only ventured out of the house by myself once with the kids so far. On the weekends I am more comfortable to go out because the post hosts activities outside which is fun for MJ and I do my best to keep my inner germ freak at bay with taking harper out but just know i always have sanitizer on hand. Lol It's not too exciting right now. It's a lot of cuddling, a lot of picking up the same messes, and lots of just spending time as a family. I was lucky that my husband got almost two weeks paternity leave so i had a lot of help to transition to a mommy of two. Next thing to tackle is my husbands first 24 hour shift since I had Harper coming up on Tuesday, so wish me luck ! :)

Tuesday, June 09, 2015

Hey Huie fans! I’m Reanna! I’m a long time follower of Kendra’s blog and count her among my “internet friends.” Ha! I started my blog in 2009 to keep a record of our journey to have a baby and to keep family and friends informed on all the fertility treatments we went through. Fast forward 6 years and we have twin three year olds! You can check out what’s happening in our world at www.anotherdayinyengerparadise.blogspot.com

I’m really excited to tell you all about some of my favorite things! This post is going to be all over the place so get ready for my brand of crazy. I’m going to tell you about these things in the order they come up in my day.

So first up…my FitBit! Y’all need one of these. I like my FitBit overall for keeping track of steps and sleep but I LOVE it for the gentle, vibrating alarm. SO much nicer than a blaring alarm clock to wake me up! I also like to make mine fun and cute so I got these bands on Ebay and these adorable monogram stickers from Etsy.

As soon as I wake up I work out. No this isn’t a fitness post but fitness is a part of my life. I recently started lifting weights and I LOVE IT! If you don’t lift, you need to start. I don’t have a gym membership so I do it at home with weights from WalMart and I’m following a 6 week program I bought from a friend (who is a personal trainer) for $40. It tells me exactly what to do, describes the exercise, and tells me how many reps and sets. I feel so strong! I’ve always wanted to lift but was way overwhelmed by it and didn’t know where to start. This simple, inexpensive program has changed how I work out. Email lynzey_gallagher@yahoo.com if you’re interested! And yes, I'm a total tool and I'm making a kissy face at my muscle. This was only 4 weeks in and I could see more muscle definition - love it! Working on my Michelle Obama arms!

Next – BEAUTY! I’m a makeup and product junkie. I admit it. But here are some of my favs.

First – my Clarisonic. I’ve had this thing for YEARS. It’s held up unbelievable well and has been totally worth the investment. It gets my skin super clean, exfoliates and allows other products to soak into my skin better.

LATISSE! This is a miracle for your eyelashes, ladies! I enhance mine even more with Younique 3D fiber mascara (and no I don’t sell it, I just love it). Also, don't mind my maniacal look in my eyes in this picture, I seriously don't know how people get these gorgeous pictures of their eyes/lashes. Probably have to have mad photog skills like Kendra ;)

Essential oils. I use them every day. I’m not going to say one brand is better than another, just do your research. These are so great for everything. I use Progessence (Young Living), frankinscense, lemon, and Get Going Blend from Ginger Birch on an everyday basis. I also use Rest Your Head which is a blend from Ginger Birch on my kids every night. In fact the put it on themselves (or each other) and they don’t let me forget it. It’s calming and helps them sleep.

For The Kiddos

First up: Plae Shoes. My son, Ben has cerebral palsy and wears ankle-foot orthotics (AFOs) and it's hard to find shoes that fit over them and are easy to get on. Plae shoes are amazing! They are SO easy to get on and they are great quality. They aren't just for kids who wear AFOs either - I'm going to get Ainlsey a pair too! Ohandalso...they are really cute!

High Five magazine - I didn't even know about this until a few months ago. It's a magazine from the same company as Highlights (remember those from when you were a kid?) but it's aimed and children 2-6 years old. It's fun for the kids to get something in the mail and they love to "read" so it's a WIN!

Lastly...Public Television. I seriously LOVE Iowa Public Television. My kids love Daniel Tiger and Super Why the most right now. I love that I don't have to worry about what they are watching. We love to snuggle in bed and watch an episode. We have the app on all our devices too so we can watch if we're waiting somewhere or even if the kids want to watch different things.

Well, I think that's enough of the random things I like! I hope you discovered something new that you'll love! I'd love to hear about your favorite things too so comment or link to a blog post with YOUR favorite things.

Monday, June 08, 2015

Hi friends! I am Jen from Jen Faith Brown Photography and I am friends with Kendra. We met several years ago in a super fun dance workout class and even though I moved to Flower Mound, thanks to Facebook we have stayed in touch!

Today I am going to share five easy tips on how to take more authentic and real photos of your sweet children. As long as you have some sort of camera (even a cell phone!) then you, yes YOU, can take your photos up a notch! My take on photography at home is documenting the everyday life. This includes not only the pretty moments, but the raw, in between moments of real life with kids at home. Our lives are not posed styled portraits, which certainly have their place. Instead of trying to make it seem like real life is perfectly-just-so in your photos, I suggest embracing the nitty gritty so you can remember what life was like at each stage. I have three boys- age 6, 4, and 2 so we have a little bit of craziness always going on here. I love being able to photograph what is important to me in its own beautiful imperfect way

Photograph Playtime

One of the easiest ways to get natural smiles from your children is to photograph them while they are playing. Thankfully, that gives you tons of opportunities because kids basically play most of the day. You can photograph them as an observer or you can play with them and capture some genuine smiles. Photographing the kiddos while they are playing will also authentically capture their personalities. I do NOT suggest asking them to stop what they are doing and pose for a a photo. They probably won't go for it if they are young and it will likely be stiff and unnatural. Don't forget to use the timer and get in the photos with your children

Yes, we all like to get the pretty smiles and happy faces in our photos. However, equally beautiful are those photos in which your child is not smiling. Embrace the non-smiling faces and even the cries

Similarly to photographing the non-smiles, how about photographs without the face? Especially for little babies and toddler, those precious other body parts are perfect for photographing: brand new hands, chubby hands, small feet, dirty legs, curly Q hair, pouty lips. You can also photograph them from behind and you can see what they are looking at in the photo. If the kids aren't cooperating with their face, try a different angle and see what you can get.

Photograph Everyday Occurrences

If I had to guess, your kids are 'in a phase' of something. Or there is something they would love to do all day long if given the chance. Right now my youngest son is in a phase where he HAS to get a drink out of both water fountains when we drop off bigger brother at school. My oldest is in a Star Wars phase and he actually finally embraced drawing because of the movies. My middle child loves to climb on the rocks when we go to the lake and calls it 'doing experiments'. Photograph that. It will be quick and easy but you will love to reminisce and have funny stories for your children later.

Photograph To-Do List

Lastly, keep a list of things you want to remember and photograph it when you have time. I just started my list yesterday and it has one thing on it: photograph Matthew's freckles. He used have to 4 freckles in almost a perfect square on his nose (which I never photographed! ugh!) and now he has a couple more. So once his boyish scrape across his nose heals, I will photograph those freckles because they are so dang cute. There are so many times the boys do something repeatedly that I think 'I really need to photograph that' and then I forget. By the time I think about it again, they have moved on to something else cute I need to capture. So, I am hoping a list will help me with that!

Hopefully you have found these tips helpful for enhancing your personal photos.

I would love if you followed me on…… Facebook or visit my blog where I will be sharing more tips and tricks for newbie photography perfect for Moms.

Wednesday, June 03, 2015

Hello! I am super excited to be able to help Kendra out as she welcomes her little one into her home.

A quick intro about me. My name is Ashley Tomlinson, I am (mainly) a SAHM to 3 crazy boys (yes I said 3!!!) who are 7 1/2, 5, and 2 1/2. I'm a little out-numbered in the house, as my 5 year old pointed out to me the other day, but oh well, I wouldn't have it any other way! I am also an online fitness coach, which I do during naptime. My children and husband are my top priority and I want them to know they have my time and my attention when they are around.

The topic I'm going to be talking about today is healthy toddler snacks. I have a blog over at theashleytomlinson.com that I post dinner recipes on, so this is actually a fun twist to what I normally post about.

Being a fitness coach I have had some experience with finding healthy snacks for myself, but we all know when it comes to kids, in particular toddlers, they are a bit picky. Almost everyday, without fail, my 2 year old decides he will just skip dinner because he would rather not eat what I put on his plate. (sigh!) It's so exhausting!

So in order to come up with this list, I went to my favorite social media sites and asked a question of what everyone else was feeding their kids. I had some really good suggestion but I would like to first give a few tips when it comes to feeding toddlers.

Toddlers are naturally picky! Just because they like something one day, does not mean they will like it the next. Also, just because they don't like it one day, does not meal they will always dislike it.

Also, start early! The earlier you get them to start eating some of these suggestions, the more likely you're going to get them to actually stay eating that way. If you try to introduce them healthy things later, like 3 and 4, you're more likely to have a fight. Start offering some of these items when you're introducing solids.

Next, toddlers like to eat with their fingers. Spoons and forks are awkward and they don't have a lot of that type of coordination yet. I'm not saying to not give them utensil required foods, it's just easier if they're finger-foods. Also, if you permit this in your house, sometimes they'll eat better if they're up walking around as opposed to having to sit down. (That obviously is your decision and what you allow at your house.

Last, make it fun! Let them help you make healthy snacks and, if need be, give them a character name. (This was a brilliant suggestion from one of my Instagram friends!)

Okay, I think that's it. Now to the list! This is not an extensive list, but it's a list that will help you get started getting your toddlers and kids eating healthier snacks throughout the day. Most can be all pre-packaged and made ahead of time (think about that when you're going out).

Avocados- I love avocados but would have never thought to give them to my child, what a great suggestion from one of my friends! One suggested spreading it on whole wheat toast and sprinkled with salt

Hummus and carrot sticks- I know weird, but they love this too. My oldest was a very picky toddler, and one day I made homemade hummus and he was hooked. If you want homemade put chickpeas/garbanzo beans, salt and pepper, and garlic in a food processor and pulse it. Add olive oil to desire consistency. (for those adults out there that like hummus, I saw a black bean, green chili hummus that I think I'd like to make some time, where you use black beans instead of chickpeas.

Apples and Almond/peanut/sunflower butter- sometimes you can get peanut butter in single serving containers

Cheese sticks

Ants on a log: cut celery into 3" pieces, put peanut butter in the crevice, and add raisins on top (ants). I find that sometimes when I allow them to help me make the snack, they're more likely to eat it. Ants on a log is one of those fun snacks they can help you with!

Muffins- watch the sugar intake on these, homemade are best and (shhhh don't tell them) you can add pureed fruits and veggies to them (one recipe I tried had me put a jar of summer squash baby food in it, more veggies is always good!)

Trail mix- this can get not so healthy, but you can put raisins, nuts, dried cranberries, dried bananas in it, and it would be fun to find a little chocolate in it occasionally (or my children's favorite: M&M's) ;)

Cottage cheese and fruit or tomatoes- my 2 year old loves eating cottage cheese and tomatoes with me, and sometimes I add avocados, but some good fruits are peaches, pineapples, pears